Huge AU Mod Successors

[Modo44]

Ok, I'm playing now. Thanks, Maki.

I loaded the save and traded luxuries. It's either that, or we die. Take a look at the pic below. This is what could be done by selling some outdated technology and a few contacts.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Sounds good ...

Don't forget in the future playing of Vikings, Grandpatroll, that the whole point of the Berserk is to keep it on the boat, and use it's amphibious abilities to never have more than you need on the ground to defend what you've taken, until you are at the point of capturing internal cities ... keeping a few in the cities still at risk to take advantage of the offensive chance to kill attacking units, but otherwise on the boat. 6/2 is a good attacking unit the way you use it - but more fun on the boat.

Thanks

as stated I am learning CIVIII and this is great to know

(The amphibious assault abilities that is)

I will be an old salty veteran before ya know it folks

keep the lessons coming

Gramps

[Grandpa Troll]

Great Modo straighten us out

Gramps

[Modo44]

1280 AD

• We've got Navigation. Next on is probably going to be... Banking.
• We can trade maps. Of course, nobody gets our map. But we can get theirs. Sell some more outdated technology, this time for maps.
• A Greek Galley entered our waters. I will try to give it a boot in a turn, after I have prepared some Berserks, in case the Greeks want to commit diplomatic suicide (If they break a peace treaty - if they don't retreat - that's very bad for their reputation with other AIs in the future.).
• Switched core cities to Cannons, Berserks, Musketmen. We'll have to keep the slow army, because we can't really afford upgrading Horsemen to Cavalry right now.
• Now that we can build the wonder, switched a University to Magellan's Voyage. We need to keep our ships fast.
• Some Settlers built and started moving in former Persian lands. there's room for many new cities there.

1285 AD

• I go to the Greeks and tell them to beat it. They do the following...

[Modo44]

1285 AD (continuation)

• Sooo YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME, G(R)EEK?
• War Happiness in Scandinavia! If someone declares war on you, you get a happiness boost. Yes, that's in addition to other bonuses. As you saw before, the Viking people already were happy, so they became incredibly happy now.
• Sign alliance against the Greeks with the Iroquis for Ivory and 20gpt.
• Establish Embassy with Hitties. Sign alliance against the Greeks for Education.
• Now our enemy will be "occupied" locally, so at least part of their forces will be diverted from us.
• Berserks unleashed! Herakleia is now a Viking city.
• Sink the Greek Galley that ventured too far from home.
• I decide to let units walk through former Persia, instead of shipping them all the way to Greece. This way that territory will be safer, because some units will be there at all times. Also, we don't have enough ships to keep sending them on such long trips.

1290 AD

• No Greeks came to attack us this turn. So they are very busy with their neighbours. Good.
• Rushing Walls in former Greek cities. This simple and cheap improvement saved my sorry a$$ a million times in Civ.
• Berserks unleashed! Eretria is now a Viking city. (It is vital to take cities that are close to each other, if only possible. The less enemy borders overlap the city radius, the less risk of a cultural conversion.)
• New Viking settlements in former Persia: Lillehammer, Elverurn, Falun, and Helsinki. More to come - there is still space left.
• Reinforcements arrive in former Greek cities. Start planning an offensive against Knossos. But not with Berserks. Those guys will only go inland after all Greek coastal cities have been conquered.
• Decide to send some units down to our new island. Just in case the Celts get funny thoughts...
• Check the diplomacy screen. People have Chivalry for sale, but it's useless to us. We'll be researching Military tradition soon... (Taking a look at possible trades every now and then is very important. This way you will know what you can sell/buy as soon as the opportunity arises.)

1290 AD

• Some Greeks approach. But not many.
• We have Navigation, so Ocean tiles are safe now. So let's explore what's still unexplored. Sending a caravel into the black north-east of Scandinavia. Meybe that's where the Americans sit. No, it's an island that is unclaimed. Nice.
• By the way, not only Egypt is doing OCC in this game. (see pic below)

[Modo44]

1300 AD

• Sink a Greek Caravel traveling too close to Scandinavia.
• Persepolis designed Settler/Worker pump. It will be set up to produce a Worker each 2 turns or a Settler each 4 turns, presumably for very long. This way other cities can go about their business unbothered.
• The Greeks are sending Cavalry to attack Ephesus. 2 have died so far, and we have an Elite Musketman now.

1305 AD

• Bad news. The Greeks just put a city on that "unclaimed" island north of Scandinavia. I guess we'll have to as for it once peace talks resume. That's way easier than actually sending units to capture it.
• Berserks unleashed! Mycenae is now a Viking city.
• Banking done. Now it's onto Economics. It will allow us to build a very useful wonder.

1310 AD

• Oh, look, some Greeks actually decided to start counter-attacking. So we killed them.
• Thunderfall is a new Viking city near Persepolis.
• Sell Navigation to the Iroquis for 75gp, 40gpt, World Map and Chivalry (I made sure that Chivalry was just a bonus, not the main payment.). A side effect of this is that we can build Knights now.
• Sell Astronomy to Korea for 73gp and 39gpt.
• Sell Ivory to Sumeria for 57gp. In hope of helping them get more gold in 10 turns.
• Sell Invention to England for 15gpt and 71 gp.
• The rest of the world is either broke, or at war with us, so no more trades for now.
• The cash is intantly used for a Temple and a Harbor in conquered lands.
• Now we can have Economy in 5 turns, instead of 7.

1315 AD

• The Greeks approach Mycenae and will take it if nothing is done. Instead of trying to stop the, I take units out of the city... and gift it to China. (They are at peace, so the city should stay non-Greek for some time. )
• Greeks want to talk to us.

1320 AD

• The city of Troy is pretty safe from Greek influence, so it gets a Barracks. Now all arriving Horsemen can be upgraded there, because they are no good against Musketmen.

1325 AD

• Found Copenhagen near Arbela.
• Berserks unleashed! Thessalonica is now a Viking city.
• The Celts are second in score, just after us. So I prepare a nasty surprise for them. I'll keep you informed.

[Modo44]

1335 AD

• Economy researched. Start Military Tradition.
• Stockholm switched to Smith's Trading Company.
• Found Reykjavik south of Thebes.
• Found Oslo north of Gorsdium.

1340 AD

• Found Stavanger near Antioch.
• Berserks unleashed! Pharsalos belongs to the Vikings now. This is the last Greek city available through the sea. After upgrading our Horsemen, we can proceed inland. No point signing peace - we want to hurt them Greeks bad, or even destroy them completely.

1345 AD

• hitties and Greece sign a peace treaty. Now the Hittie reputation is broken as well. Good.
• Found Odense in former Persian lands. This the last hole that I found could be plugged. You guys will probably curse me for all the micromanagement I give you, but hey, you can always use the governors.

1350 AD

• Core cities finish Banks. Right on time. Switched back to units.
• Too soon for the Celtic surprise - not enough forces on the island we share with them. Oh well.

Alright, that's it for now. I didn't sign peace with the Greeks, because it didn't seem necessary. The demographics go first, then all our territories.

Save is with Snoopy, btw. It was too big to attach.

[Modo44]

First, the beauty - our home. Cities producing units have virtually nothing else to build.

[Modo44]

And the second home, now with a mix of Persian and Viking names.

[Modo44]

Here, the poor brother of our second home - the barren ex-Mongol lands. Uhh, chilly.

[Modo44]

Our new possessions, slowly developing.

[Modo44]

And, last but not least, the place (formerly) known as Greece.

[snoopy369]

AD 1355: Started, moved a few units around, got my feel of the turn. Traded Metallurgy to the Iroquois for 22gpt, 70gp, and a map (ooh, a map), and 3 workers just for kicks - after all we'll need some for railroads soon enough. And, I want some extra money for that time to be able to up science perhaps above tax sufficiency to hurry through the slow going while we build the railroads and have a huge cost of units. Also upped tax a bit so we would finish a few knights before getting MT. Sell English Education for 4gpt 20gp and a worthless world map.

My first actions will be to beef up our military a bit. Our infrastructure particularly on the main continent is very good, but our military numbers at the moment:

Berserk   20
Caravel   17
Horsemen  17
Knight    3
Musketmen 25
Pikemen   25
Med. Inf. 6

And several other warrior/spear types.

First action: Get us some knights! I honestly would never have traded for chivalry for this very reason. I'd rather pay to upgrade horsemen i can produce 1 per turn in many cities, rather than have to build knights 1 per 3-4 turns and still pay a decent amount to upgrade them, but you work with what you have. I moved a few minor infrastructure producing cities (cathedrals, universities) to knights for the next few turns (and then back to infra) so we would get the cheaper upgrades first.

Second action: Plan our future expansion. I decided the most sensible thing to do was start by taking out each of the lux resources one by one. We likely have all of the strat resources tied up, or can't figure out where they are for a while yet, but either way we need lux resources.

The lay of the land: (IE, possessors of lux resources)

Wines     Sumeria, Germany
Dyes      Celts, [edit- Indians]
Silks     Zulu
Gems      Japan
Incense   Greeks
Spices    China, Iroqouis, Hittites

We'll have Incense soon enough, and we can pick whichever spice owner we feel like attacking after we finish the greeks, given the massive army we'll have. I think the next place i'll go - possibly at the same time as the greeks are finished, because berserks are now of questionable use and we'll have a goodly number of whatever strength cavalry we have in the AU mod ganging up on the greeks. (5/3/3, btw.)

I think the Japanese are the easiest to take (and have the lowest corruption too, conveniently). They also do not have Invention yet (so are easy targets) and are pretty small (12 cities, only 1 over 6). Also, they're close by - can either launch from Ergili or from the mainland, and a fleet of maybe 8-10 caravels could do the job easily. Finally, only 3 of their cities are inland, meaning that 7 cities are easy targets for berserks - in fact i'm going to go set up 7 caravel fleets ASAP.

After that, the Zulu are easier even, a smaller less developed country, and once we take out the greeks they're the logical next step (or the japanese, whichever falls first). I'd at that point take out the Hittites - easiest, they're the least close ally, and closer to home so faster reinforcements.

That would give us 2(now) + 2(greek/hittite) + 2 (Zulu/Japanese) for 6 guaranteed, easy to get luxes. The last two are a bit more time consuming - celts are huge and the biggest score threat to us, and the Wines are going to take some time because of location, although Germany might be pretty easy (Sumeria is huge and mostly inland, like the Celts). [edit- it looks like taking Delhi might be better in the long run, i am sending a berserk force to do that. One city, and some free dyes, assuming we keep the city, ie build some quick culture.]

So, to implement the first 15 turns of that plan ...

[Grandpa Troll]

Modo glad you continued on with reducation of them heathen Greeks

Looking forward to next installment

then

~ahem~

giving ya something to clean up..that being the mess I make

[Modo44]

Originally posted by snoopy369
First action: Get us some knights! I honestly would never have traded for chivalry for this very reason. I'd rather pay to upgrade horsemen i can produce 1 per turn in many cities, rather than have to build knights 1 per 3-4 turns and still pay a decent amount to upgrade them, but you work with what you have. I moved a few minor infrastructure producing cities (cathedrals, universities) to knights for the next few turns (and then back to infra) so we would get the cheaper upgrades first.

Basically this is all ok and posible, but a different game approach than mine. I rather have offensive units built, while keeping defensive ones upgraded. Also, the cash not used for upgrading those Horsemen can be spent on rushing infrastructure in former Persia. And, Cavalry is not so good at amphibious operations anyway.

Sorry, can't stop being a builder all of a sudden. I'm trying, really, but it's so hard.